A determined and senior-led Dublin High squad ended Carondelet High’s dominant run in North Coast Section Division II title games Saturday.

The Gaels edged the top-seeded Cougars 57-55 at Saint Mary’s College in a wild game that featured 22 lead changes, 10 ties and no lead larger than four points for either team.

The section title is Dublin’s first in girls basketball in 27 years and second overall.

Milan Moses, who finished with 17 points, put Dublin up for good with a fastbreak layup with 2:46 to play. The speedy senior guard made several more key plays down the stretch to hold off the Cougars.

“We wanted to be physical with them and the mindset was just to get it done,” Moses said. “It’s our last year and we’re all going off to college. We just had to work hard.”

After Carondelet got within 54-53 with 52 seconds left, Moses responded with a three-point play. She missed the front end of a one-and-one with 6.8 seconds left but redeemed herself with a game-clinching steal in the waning seconds.

Carondelet (26-3) had won six of the past seven NCS Division II titles, having competed in Division I in 2011. Most of its games in that stretch hadn’t been close, including a 92-44 semifinal win over the Gaels last season.

“I think we didn’t take it as seriously as we should have,” Carondelet coach Elgin Leslie said. “By the time we realized it, it was too late.”

Katie Rathbun did her best to keep Carondelet in the game, finishing with 24 points, including six 3-pointers. But she was held scoreless in the final quarter as Dublin (26-3) continued to use its size to corral rebounds and produce second-chance points.

Tiaja Andrews added 11 points for Dublin, which starts three seniors who have been staples of the program for the past few years.

The outcome hurts Carondelet’s prospects for the Open Division of the Northern California regional playoffs. Brackets will be determined Sunday.

Miramonte 72, Bishop O’Dowd 66: In a championship game that turned from blowout to nail-biter, the Matadors held off the Dragons’ furious comeback to claim their second straight Division III title. After leading by as many as 22 points in the first half, Miramonte needed late free throws to escape with the win at Saint Mary’s College.

Sabrina Ionescu had 26 points and eight rebounds for Miramonte (28-2) and freshman teammate Clair Steel added 20, including a key 3-pointer with 2:52 to play after the Dragons got within a point.

The game was another matchup between the division’s two most dominant teams of the past decade, though they didn’t play in last year’s final after O’Dowd (21-9) was disqualified for the postseason for playing one too many regular-season games. That ended the Dragons’ streak of five straight NCS titles and the Matadors went on to win last year’s final.

“We wanted to play them last year and had a good team to play them with last year,” Ionescu said. “Getting revenge on them this year is definitely good for us.”

If O’Dowd had won, the players were planning to give their medals to last year’s seniors who didn’t get the chance to defend their NCS and Open Division state titles.

But the Dragons’ emotions spilled over and led to a very slow start.

Miramonte led 23-7 after a quarter and 38-16 in the second quarter when Ionescu scored 14 of her points.

“They were just too amped and it showed in the beginning,” O’Dowd coach Malik McCord said. “We just dug ourselves too big of a hole. I knew we could come back, we just didn’t finish it.”

O’Dowd started the second half with a different energy and slowly chipped away at the 20-point halftime deficit. When Aisia Robertson found Aerial Chavarin wide open under the basket for a layup, the Dragons were within 58-57 with 3:48 to play. Chavarin finished 29 points and 13 rebounds.

But Steele and Ionescu had an answer for every O’Dowd bucket the rest of the way, and the duo combined to make nine of 10 free throws down the stretch.

“We just need a couple of baskets to fall to catch our breath,” Miramonte coach Kelly Sopak said. “And Sabrina seems to answer when times get real tight.”

— Stephanie Hammon

Salesian 56, Saint Mary’s 40: The Pride (28-3) shot out of the gate with a 13-0 run in the first quarter and maintained a steady up-tempo pace to register a convincing win in the NCS Division IV championship game at Albany High.

Ma’Ane Mosley’s put back with 2:40 left in the first quarter was the first bucket for the Panthers — playing in their seventh consecutive NCS final and third straight against Salesian. Saint Mary’s (23-8) never really recovered from the first-quarter deficit.

Mosley scored 17 points and grabbed a game-high 20 rebounds but didn’t have the support and scoring balance of the Pride.

Both teams qualified for the Division IV Northern California Regionals by virtue of playing in the NCS title game.

Junior guard Minyon Moore was not going to be denied in this game. She scored a team-high 13 points, grabbed six rebounds, added six steals and dished out four assists to lead Salesian.

Moore admitted that the Pride played a little out of control at times but stuck with the game plan.

Salesian continued to push the ball upcourt and got some pretty easy looks around the paint. Saint Mary’s, on the other hand, couldn’t catch a break. Close-range shots seemed to roll around the rim and out.

Kian McNair added nine points, four rebounds and three steals for Salesian. Taisia Fleming, Rayana Ross and Jordan Hobson each contributed eight points for the Pride.